Jean Claude Van Damme to Kick Ass in Cannes

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 12, 2008

When I think of le Festival de Cannes, I normally think of a festival atmosphere unlike anything I’ve ever seen — a marketplace for the best independent films from all over the world. I also think about the height of arthouse quality indies, the best of the best — the illustrious festival would have it no other way. It also brings to mind the fact that as a movie blogger, my chances of getting a press pass are slim, bordering on never going to f’ing happen.

No worries though, because it appears that the tides are changing in the south of France. The auteur of auteurs, action star Jean Claude Van Damme is premiering his film JCVD at Cannes this year. I picked this hot little tidbit up off of Steven Zeitchik’s blog post over at THR’s Risky Biz Blog. Allegedly, Van Damme’s crazy existentialist French film isn’t the oddest of the Cannes oddities though, as there is one wartime romance called The Baby Doll Night in which the question of whether “a night of pleasure can mend sixty years of pain” is finally answered. That was worth a chuckle, almost as much as the Van Damme bit.

And speaking of JCVD, it appears to be all sorts of whacked out. If you like Jean Claude Van Damme and can speak French, this might just be “movie of the year” material. Or not. For more, check out the French trailer below or visit the film’s official site jcvd-lefilm.com, which is also coincidentally, in French. JCVD is scheduled for release in France on June 4th. Here in the US, our best chance is bootleg.

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